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ADDRESS 



FEMALE EDUCATION 



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BY 



ALONZO GRAY, 

PRINCIPAL OF THE INSTITUTION. 



PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST OF THE BOARD OP VISITORS. 



NEW YORK: 
JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 49 ANN STREET. 

M.DCOC.LIV. 



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41 



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ADDRESS. 



Young Ladies, 

In completing the duties of the year, and the services of 
this occasion, allow me to suggest to you and to our friends 
here present, a few thoughts connected with the objects which 
this Institution attempts to accomplish, with the means which 
are employed, and the obstacles which are to be encountered. 

School education is only one branch, although a most im- 
portant one, of human culture. We may, therefore, specify 
what are not, as well as what are its main objects. 

We do not include, as a direct object of school study, the 
culinary art. This most important branch of female education 
must be left to the mothers. It is to be expected that an art 
so venerable, so universal, so necessary to the well-being of 
all civilized communities, will be made a prominent subject of 
study ; that those who are to preside at the family board, will 
be carefully taught this art, and become skilled in whatever 
pertains to its successful practice. The comfort, health, and 
thrift of the family, depend more upon this than upon all the 
knowledge acquired in the schools. 

If there is any deficiency in this respect, in our domestic 
arrangements, then I would suggest, that this is a department 
of effort in which the ladies should take a leading and active 
part ; for here their rights will be cheerfully accorded to them 
by the other sex ; they may form societies, if they will, and 



bring all their eloquent speakers to the task of reform, without 
the risk of stepping from their appropriate sphere. 

But if the practice of this art, and it is eminently a practi- 
cal art, is eschewed by the educated and refined, and left to the 
less favored and ignorant classes, then certainly there should 
be established culinary technic schools, furnished with suitable 
professors and aids, from which our cooks and housekeepers 
may graduate, before entering upon a profession, the correct 
practice of which is more vital to the health and life of society, 
than that of medicine or law ; and in which, quackery is the 
more dangerous, because it is more universal. The influence 
of such institutions would infuse new life into the social system; 
family quarrels, and nervous headaches would well nigh cease, 
and divorces would become less and less frequent, inasmuch 
as these and other forms of social discord may as frequently 
be traced to indigestion, as to any want of sympathy, or any 
special defect of moral principle. The art of making good 
bread has more to do with the peace of the world than all the 
arts of diplomacy. 

Although we do not directly teach this art in the schools, 
yet, many of the branches of study, especially that of chem- 
istry, are so intimately connected with the successful practice 
of it, that the teacher may aid the mother by instilling correct 
views of its importance, and by giving prominence to those 
sciences upon which the art is based. The education of young 
ladies ought certainly to be so conducted, that the higher 
their attainments in science, the better their preparation to 
discharge the duties of the household, and to fill the honor- 
able station which God has assigned them at the head of the 
family. 

Physical Culture is not the specific object of school educa- 
tion ; it is rather incidental. This much neglected branch 
should form a regular and distinct department of school train- 
ing, not only because a well-developed and gracefully propor- 
tioned form is the highest style of physical beauty, but also 
because the highest intellectual and moral culture cannot be 
attained without it. And, what is of still greater importance 
to the welfare of the race, they who are to give physical con- 
stitution to coming generations, ought certainly to possess the 



most perfect form of physical power and grace. The natural 
tendency of city life, its luxuries and its indolence, is to phy- 
sical degeneracy ; and unless special means are used to coun- 
teract this tendency by appropriate physical training, the 
higher classes will continue to degenerate, and the strength 
and power of cities will continue to be derived, as they always 
have been, from an influx of more vigorous stocks from the 
laboring classes. 

It muss be obvious, I think, to the observation of any one 
who has passed the age of forty years, that the young men 
and women in our cities are generally smaller in stature than 
their fathers and mothers were. There is an obvious slimness 
of form, a precocious maturity, which would astonish their 
great-grandsires. If those stately and majestic forms were to 
revisit the earth now, they would not know their own 
progeny. In order to remedy this tendency to physical 
debility, much can and must be done in the schools by means 
of well ventilated rooms, by suitable seats, and attention 
to the position of the body during the hours of study, by 
calisthenics and other exercises. Much more may be accom- 
plished by a judicious system of training out of school, by 
careful attention to diet, and by imposing proper restraints 
upon too excessive, irregular, and unseasonable physical 
exertion. 

It is not the design of school education to fit young ladies 
for public and professional life. In this respect the education 
of girls, in its methods and motives, is somewhat different 
from that of boys. The latter in most cases are expected to 
be fitted for the discharge of public and professional duties. 

There is one profession, however, that of the teacher, which 
is not only honorable and suitable for ladies, but for which 
they are especially fitted. This is a department of labor, 
broad enough and of sufficient magnitude to require and exer- 
cise the most exalted powers. The female mind, in many 
respects, is better adapted to the training of the young, than 
that of the other sex, and hence its education should be con- 
ducted with special reference to this important service. As 
females are the natural teachers of the young ; as they are by 
their position, character, and influence, to lay the foundations 



6 

of society, the purest and holiest motives are here presented 
to them to strive after, and to attain the highest state of phy- 
sical, intellectual and moral culture. By this means their in- 
fluence upon the character, the opinions and the destinies of 
the race, will be more centrally, universally and beneficently 
felt, than if they were to accompany the other sex into the 
arena of professional and political strife. The right to be the 
teachers of the race ought to satisfy the aspirations of angelic 
natures. The influence of woman, like the forces of nature, 
will thus be silent and universal, commencing at the foun- 
tain of being, and underlying and pervading all social, civil and 
political institutions. 

The special object of school education is to secure what 
may be designated by the term culture, and this includes cul- 
ture of the intellect, the heart and the manners. 

Culture of the intellect implies a state of the intellectual 
faculty, in which the mind is capable of perceiving truth with 
clearness, of holding subjects before it with firmness, of tracing 
relations and causes, and making deductions with rapidity and 
accuracy. Intellectual culture implies not simply a memory 
filled with facts and principles, but one possessed with the power 
of recalling and applying its knowledge. It requires not an 
imagination filled with beautiful images conceived by others, 
but one so quickened and disciplined that it shall be able to 
select, combine, and thus create new images and beauties of its 
own. It demands that the understanding be not only furnished 
with the judgments and opinions of others, but so disciplined 
that the reasoning faculty shall be enabled to make its decisions 
and form its opinions by its own inherent and independent 
power. 

The culture of the heart relates primarily to the subjection 
of the passions and affections, the will itself to the authority 
of the conscience, the instinctive and impulsive to the gov- 
ernment of the moral powers. Obedience to the right as 
opposed to the expedient ; obedience, not merely to external 
rules of conduct, but to the decisions of the judgment and 
the conscience ; thus conducing to perfect integrity and truth- 
fulness of character, thus securing activity and largeness of 
soul, with delicacy and refinement of sentiment, thus impart- 



ing a quickened and refined sensibility, without inducing a 
sickly and effeminate sentimentality. Perfect culture of the 
heart implies that the conscience be rectified and made active 
under the teachings of the Spirit and word of Grod. 

Culture of the manners refers mainly to the outward ex- 
pression, or to the modes in which the various affections of 
the mind are represented. True culture of manners requires 
that the outward expression be a true index of the inward 
feeling. This is a natural law, we read the character through 
the outward action. This relation should never be violated, 
and, if the intellect and the heart are rightly disciplined, grace- 
ful manners flow out spontaneously, and become correct repre- 
sentatives of the affections of the soul. Simplicity of character 
will be indicated by simplicity of manners ; intellectual and 
moral graces will be represented by a natural and graceful ex- 
pression ; refinement of feeling will be exhibited by appropri- 
ate outward action. If the heart is right, the manners can 
rarely fail to be graceful and agreeable. 

There may be cases of an unfortunate physical form or 
natural awkwardness, which will not easily conform to the 
rules of graceful attitudes, whatever be the internal affection 
or the external training, but such cases are exceptions to the 
general rule. What we mean by culture of the manners in- 
cludes not simply or principally an outward graceful expres- 
sion, but an expression proceeding from, and a true index of 
the internal affections of the mind. 

This view does not require that every feeling should have 
expression, for if the mental state is wrong, it ought not to be 
represented at all. The doctrine that we should always ex- 
press what we feel, is false, both in philosophy and religion. 
There is obviously a broad distinction between expressing all 
that we feel, and of making what we do express a true index 
of internal experience. There may be graceful attitudes and 
expressions which have at the time no corresponding affection. 
This is often characterized by the terms " cold politeness," 
"affectation," hollow-heartedness." It should rather be desig- 
nated by the terms " hypocrisy " and "deception," although the 
hypocrisy is generally apparent, and the deception rarely 
extends beyond the individual who attempts to practise it. 



8 

Culture, in the sense we would define it, includes not only 
the possession of knowledge, the expansion of the intellect, the 
development of the affections, and gracefulness and truthful- 
ness of expression, but also their adjustments and proportions, 
the harmonious action of all the powers of the mind. 

It is obvious from this view, that true culture is rather a 
permanent condition of the soul, than any specific passion or 
action of it ; a refined and exalted spiritual state, into which 
the powers and susceptibilities of the mind are trained ; a state 
in which the intellections, the emotions and graceful expres- 
sions are spontaneous, are as instinctive intuitions, in which 
right action is a habit, a second nature ; a state in which rules 
and principles of action are absorbed or are no longer needed, 
because the soul rises above all mere rules and becomes a law 
unto itself. Such a refined and spiritual condition of the soul 
implies religious culture, the exercise of right affections toward 
God, and although this is not a direct object of school educa- 
tion, it is necessary to its highest perfection. The influence 
of the church and the school, of the minister and of the 
teacher, are combined and expressed in every soul which has 
attained the most perfect form of human culture. 

The reason for making general culture rather than accu- 
rate and extensive knowledge of science or art the prominent 
object in the education of young ladies, is based upon the fact 
that they are to be the refiners of the race. They are fitted 
for this service by their physical and mental constitutions, by 
their moral and social instincts, and by the position which 
God has assigned them, a position where they must necessarily 
exert the first controlling and moulding influence in forming 
the character of society. The study of science is simply the 
instrument by which the object is gained, and the more ex- 
tended and thorough it is the more certain the result. 

The effects of such a culture are often experienced but are 
not easily described. Whoever has enjoyed the society of a 
cultivated and refined woman, has felt the power of this exalted 
condition of the soul. Her influence flows from every word 
and motion, it steals through the sensibilities as a mesmeric 
force, it attracts, and subdues, and purifies every mind which 
it reaches. Such a character tends to assimilate every thought 
and expression to its own most perfect form. 



Such a culture it is the object of this institution to attempt, 
and if it shall not secure it in its highest fruition, it shall at 
least point out the way, and plant the germs of it in the minds 
of those who for any length of time come under its influ- 
ence. 

In securing this high state of culture it is obvious that the 
means must be adapted to the character of the service, and the 
nature of the mind. Education is not merely a process. It 
is not a routine, it is more. It is the growth of a spiritual, in- 
telligent principle. It is not a growth by assimilation or ac- 
cretion of foreign material, but of a living spiritual power, a 
growth from within outward. The mind is not a passive sub- 
stance to be moulded like clay. It cannot be developed by 
chemical or mechanical processes. It is sensitive, self-active, 
self-willed. And as the teacher cannot impart capacity where 
it does not exist, so he cannot develope it where it does by his 
own single exertions. The work must be mutual, ,and hence, 
first of all, and preliminary to every other means of securing 
a high state of culture, we must excite in the mind of the 
pupil the love of knowledge, the desire of improvement, an 
affection for truth and goodness. Without these inward im- 
pulsive forces, education is indeed but a process, in which 
there may be much intelligence, extensive knowledge, correct 
and even graceful outward action, but there cannot be any 
true and generous culture. In such cases the termination of 
school instruction is the end of improvement. Books, by 
means of which we hold converse and communion with the 
great and good of all past ages, are soon discarded. Things 
temporary and trivial absorb the whole mind, and in a few 
years the man or the woman loses all knowledge of science or 
literature, all traces of culture. The immortal soul is thus 
made to retrograde on its course, simply because it was not 
early inspired with the love of knowledge, or impressed with 
a scholarly spirit. Trie means therefore which are employed 
in training the mind should be selected and applied with a 
view of inducing a love of study. 

For this purpose the most effective means is the personal 
influence of the teacher. The value of this influence will be 
in proportion to the kind and degree of culture which the 



10 

teacher lias attained, and the power which may thereby be 
exerted over the mind of the pupil. Personal influence de- 
pends more upon character than upon knowledge. The 
teacher, therefore, who has character united to a high state of 
culture, will infuse the spirit of study into the mind of the 
pupil. It is a law of our mental constitution to become assi- 
milated to the character of those with whom we hold constant 
and intimate intercourse, and as this susceptibility is particu- 
larly strong in youth, the impress of the teacher's character is 
then most distinctly felt. He or she becomes the model, and 
the taught are moulded into the same image. In some cases 
this assimilating power is so great, that a knowledge of an in- 
dividual indicates at once the institution where he received 
his education. His opinions, tones of voice, attitude and walk 
even, remind you of some distinguished master, who is thus 
distinctly set before you, and whose excellencies, and especial- 
ly whose characteristic eccentricities, are reproduced and per- 
petuated in the character of his pupils. 

Personal influence may arise from similarity of tastes, tem- 
perament, similar social and moral training ; but, whenever it 
is possessed in its full force, it always has this characteristic 
element, a power of inspiring perfect confidence in the bene- 
volence and integrity of the teacher, so that the mind of the 
pupil yields itself to and trusts in his judgment. In securing 
this conviction consists the true art of successful teaching. 
Little of value can be accomplished in any department of 
effort unless the action have in it a benevolent intention. In 
acquiring this personal power the teacher must have in his 
own soul an honest, earnest and benevolent purpose, and the 
faculty of exciting the conviction of it in the minds of those 
whom he attempts to instruct. 

The waywardness, the restlessness, often the ill-nature of 
the young, tend naturally to act against the exercise of be- 
nevolent intention, and to produce a feeling of antagonism be- 
tween the teacher and the taught. But so strong must this 
intention be, that it shall rise above and overpower all such 
influences. He has not the spirit of his calling, or the culture 
requisite to have the training of youth, who does not hold in 
his mind a strong, fixed, unshaken purpose of promoting the 



11 

present and future good of his pupils, whatever provocations 
to the contrary feeling may be presented, whatever ingratitude 
or perverseness he may witness ; for if the wayward are ever 
to be reclaimed to the right, it will be through the influence 
of benevolent intention, and not by the exercise of a stern 
authority, or the exhibition of an irascible and impatient 
temper. 

Connected with the personal influence of the teacher, an- 
other means of securing a high state of culture is to suggest 
the proper motives and incentives to study. These are the love 
of approbation, the love of distinction, the fear of discipline, 
the pleasure attending the acquisition of knowledge, the hope 
of being useful, and the convictions of duty. Perhaps the' 
strongest of these in youth is the love of approbation, and it 
is this principle which is most frequently appealed to for the 
purpose of stimulating the mind in the pursuit of knowledge. 
This desire of approval is often so strong that it becomes a 
passion, and when united with the love of distinction, it over- 
powers all other motives, and renders the character thorough- 
ly selfish. Truth and right will be sacrificed to obtain a 
momentary gratification. It is therefore a most dangerous 
principle to appeal to, and must be carefully directed. God 
has planted it in the soul, however, and when regulated and 
restrained by the moral powers, it contributes directly to form 
a lovable and agreeable character. We may therefore urge 
the young to be diligent and faithful in study, because thereby 
they will secure the approbation of the good. To be assured 
that their efforts to attain excellence are appreciated, is pro- 
motive of virtue, and encourages the mind in its practice. 

The fear of discipline and the hope of reward are motives 
sometimes needed in the government of children, but they 
rank lowest and should seldom be resorted to. But the princi- 
pal incentives to attain a high state of culture are appeals 
to the conscience, the pleasure consequent on successful 
acquisition, and the power which it furnishes for doing good. 
These motives should be so strongly pressed upon the mind, 
and made so prominent, as to overpower and render in- 
significant all others. It should be the grand effort of the 
teacher to lodge these motives in the mind. His success will 



12 

depend upon the degree in which he is influenced by them in 
his daily intercourse with his pupils. If these high motives 
prevail in his own soul, he will awaken them in others and 
call forth a corresponding action. 

But the means most relied upon to secure a high state of 
culture, is a systematic course of study, adapting the different 
subjects, in time, matter and method, to the natural order in 
which the powers of the mind are unfolded. The design and 
comparative value of the several sciences as contributing to 
this end, deserve particular and extended consideration. 

The branches of study pursued in our schools have three 
distinct uses. 

First: As aids in the business of life, to enable the pupil 
to practise some art or perform some professional duty. 

Second: As instruments of culture, in which case the partic- 
ular applications of knowledge are of minor importance, and 

Third : As an incarnation with the mind, that is, knowledge 
in the very act of expanding the powers of the mind becomes 
united to it. and remains as an organic living force, so that 
the mind is ever afterward other and different from what it 
would have been. As in matter two substances combine and 
produce a third, a new body, yet unlike material compounds, 
the elements of knowledge when combined with the human 
soul, cannot be abstracted from it, but become a part of its 
spiritual power. 

The chief design of the study of the sciences is discipline, 
inasmuch as this secures what is most important in the other 
two. Their highest value, therefore, are as instruments to ex- 
pand and strengthen the different powers of the mind. 

Each faculty of the soul has its appropriate objects suited 
to its development. Each class of faculties have their proper 
branches of knowledge, between which there are natural affini- 
ties and adaptations the one to the other. The retention of 
knowledge is not essential to this instrumental effect, but if fully 
apprehended, and in proportion to the clearness with which it 
is received, will it become a component of the soul ; although 
the mind may never be able to use it in its concrete form ; al- 
though the individual may never be called upon to practise any 
of the arts founded upon it. The value of each branch, there- 



13 

fore, must be estimated by the kind and degree of discipline 
which it imparts, and the peculiar nature of the expansion and 
force which it infuses into the mind. In this view there is a 
comparative value. Some studies are better instruments than 
others, have a sharper edge, greater moulding power; but 
each has its own use and value, and each is indispensable to 
secure the balance and completeness of the character. The 
inquiry which is sometimes made, " Of what use will it be for 
my daughter to study geometry ? " betrays an utter ignorance 
of the great objects of study, an entire misapprehension of the 
very foundation principles of human culture. 

The multiplication of the branches of knowledge in schools 
is at least a less evil than is generally supposed. In many 
respects there is a positive gain, especially if the period of 
study may be thereby lengthened, for it is but increasing the 
instruments of culture by which our powers are more various- 
ly and fully developed. The doctrine, therefore, which some 
theorists have taught, that in the education of girls certain 
rather dry and difficult subjects should be wholly omitted, is 
founded upon a very limited andfalse view of the nature of mind, 
and of what is required for its right culture. The question, 
" Which better be omitted, the mathematics or the intellectual 
sciences ? " is about as absurd as that so often discussed in 
village debating societies, " Which could we best dispense 
with, fire or water I " Now it would be easy to present argu- 
ments in favor of fire, and then again on the other hand in 
favor of water, but if either side were to attempt to practise in 
accordance with their arguments, they would be likely to find 
out the inconvenience, not to say the absurdity of their con- 
clusions. A similar result might be anticipated from an at- 
tempt to practise this theory of omissions in the process of 
female education. 

The truth is, each branch has its use, and each should be 
used. If important branches are left out of a course of study, 
the symmetry of the development, both of the mind and the 
character, will be marred; just as in the education of the 
other sex, if you find a professional man who has not received 
a classical education, has not been drilled and driven over 
a collegiate course of training, you will be likely to find a man 



14 

who has some defects, or excrescences, or eccentricities of 
character. 

But in order to show the special design and value of the 
different branches of study, we must give them a more dis- 
tinct examination. 

I mention, first, the study of the natural world, and also 
class it with instruments of culture, because knowledge first 
comes through the senses. The mind must first be exercised 
in studying the forms and properties of those things by which 
it is immediately surrounded ; and the pupil will make this 
knowledge, either voluntarily or instinctively, a most power- 
ful means of preparing or unfitting the mind for the study of 
books. The child looks upon natural objects with the interest 
of novelty, and receives therefrom, at the most susceptible 
period, impressions which must influence the whole future of 
his being. He should therefore be taught to observe, to under- 
stand something of the language which is addressed to his 
quickened and expanding powers. He should be taught to 
observe with accuracy, that the habit of close attention, and a 
love for simple truth may be early and permanently fixed in 
his mind. He should be taught to discriminate and classify 
his knowledge ; and, finally, he should have suggested to him 
the moral lessons which the works of God are fitted to teach. 
You are all familiar with the anecdote of the father of Wash- 
ington, who surprised and instructed his son by so planting 
seeds, that when the plants sprung up they formed the letters 
of his name. 

The knowledge gained at this period is the basis of much 
that we acquire in maturer life, and by the direction of a skil- 
ful teacher, and under the influence of correct habits of obser- 
vation, simple nature may become a most powerful and 
valuable instrument in the culture of the mind. 

The design of studying languages is twofold; first, as a 
medium of thought, and secondly, as a means of exercising 
and increasing the discriminating and comparing faculties. 
The study of words, like the study of things, habituates the 
mind to discern slight differences. Words are the raw mate- 
rial of thought; the instruments, excitants, suggestors, the 
body and permanent form of thought. Language is called 



15 

the clothing of the thought. The tendency of a careful 
study of languages is to a refinement of the ideas, and to a 
more felicitous selection and arrangement of words to ex- 
press them. The mind finally becomes possessed with the 
power of language, and discerns the exact relation between 
any shade of thought and the words which should be selected 
to body it forth. The result is copiousness, variety and ful- 
ness in the expression. The most common thoughts put on 
freshness and life. They stand forth gracefully attired, in due 
proportions and in harmonious order. 

The habit of composition, that is, the arrangement of words 
in sentences according to fixed laws, the discovery and appli- 
cation of which constitutes the science of grammar, brings into 
exercise more directly the faculties of analysis and of construc- 
tiveness. In this exercise the mind is compelled to give 
its attention to the meaning of words and to study their arrange- 
ment. 

The translation of any foreign language into our own 
tongue has a similar effect : it gives the power to distinguish 
nice shades of thought in words, and suggests the most expres- 
sive mode of arrangement. By thus tracing the relations 
between thoughts and the symbols by which they are best 
expressed, we perform a constant process of judgment, so that 
the effect upon the mind is to fit it for the conduct of life, for 
forming just opinions upon the various subjects presented 
for its consideration. With the study of languages there should 
always be connected the study of English literature, of history 
and poetry. 

It will be conceded generally that we should place the 
highest value upon the study of our own tongue, and that 
other languages should be acquired mainly with a view of 
obtaining a more extensive and exact knowledge of the English. 
It is too obvious to need proof, that our own should be the 
first language studied, both because it is to be the constant 
medium of thought, and because it is to be the language by 
which we think, and hence will call into exercise more than 
any other the perceptive and reflective intellect. 

The Latin ranks next to the English, as an instrument of 
culture. Its structure is much more precise and systematic. 



16 

Its study contributes more directly to order and method. 
From it we derive a large portion of English words, besides 
most of the technical terms in the whole circle of the sciences. 
The almost numberless objects in Natural History are desig- 
nated by Latin names. It is doubtful whether any thorough 
knowledge of the sciences, or of the English language itself, 
can be secured without some acquaintance with the Latin 
tongue. 

Next to Latin we place French, then German and other 
modern languages. The Latin for mental discipline is far su- 
perior to French, superior to all the modern languages com- 
bined, and yet it cannot supply their place. The study of the 
French language is a necessity in the education of young 
ladies. Its principal use in a system of study is not, however, 
in being able to speak it, but in the influence exerted upon 
the mind by frequent translations into English. It is so de- 
pendent upon the Latin, that a good Latin scholar will very 
soon be able to read it, and then a residence for a few months 
in French society will give the power of speaking it. If your 
daughters were to live in France, and the French language 
were to be the medium of thought, then its study should pre- 
cede the Latin. They should be placed in French schools and 
have a French education ; but if they are to use the English 
language, and live mainly in English society, then the order 
of the languages in a system of education should be as we 
have indicated; English, Latin, French, and other modern 
languages. 

In advocating the study of French as essential in the edu- 
cation of young ladies, I would at the same time protest against 
certain modern theories and modern practice in respect to its 
study. Because the French is a fashionable study there have 
arisen extreme and false views of its utility ; and in too many 
cases, the influence of the French literature and fashions has 
acquired a ridiculous and pernicious ascendency. It is obvi- 
ously a false theory which would direct an English scholar to 
make French the principal study. It is clearly a mal-practice 
to set children to the study of French before they know any 
thing of the English. We know that the character of a peo- 
ple exerts a moulding influence upon their language, and, on 



17 

the contrary, the character of the language reacts and greatly 
influences the character of a people. If, therefore, instead of 
the strong, vigorous Englishwoman, into whose very being 
the language and literature of our Saxon tongue has become 
incarnated, you prefer that sentimental hybrid, a French lady 
ingrafted upon an English stock, then let your daughters, 
during their earlier years, be brought into contact with little 
else than French society, its fashions, its manners, its views 
of life, and its literature. I would not disparage this lan- 
guage or discourage its study ; but by protesting against its 
abuse redeem it from reproach, and elevate it to its proper 
place. I would, if possible, expel from the mind of every 
young lady and every mother in the land, the silly idea that 
to obtain a little smattering of French is the chief end of 
woman. 

The French is a graceful language, it offers great facilities 
for conversation. It is the language of compliment and of 
Courts, although it has no term to designate that familiar and 
most sacred place which we call home. And because it is 
smooth, and facile, and graceful, its study is suited to impart a 
certain polish and refinement to our stronger English char- 
acter. Its acquisition is considered an accomplishment, and so 
it is in one view, and in this respect it is superior to Latin ; but 
if your daughters begin their education with accomplishments, 
they will continue and end with accomplishments. The solid 
branches will be neglected, and in the end there will be little 
true refinement and polish of manners, because there will not 
be solid substance capable of receiving a polish. "We shall, I 
fear, as we already have in some institutions, have French, 
painting, music, and dancing, as the chief instruments of cul- 
ture. Our daughters will have an apparent grace of air and 
refinement of manners, and our granddaughters will have 
the good old English names of our mothers all terminating 
in e. 

Such is the great fascination of this language that it should 
be specially guarded from perversion. We trust that its study 
will be universal, but with more correct views of its utility in 
the education of our daughters ; that they will be taught, that 
it is one of its abuses, and not its legitimate use, to convert 
2 



18 

Englishwomen into Frenchwomen ; that it is a solid acqui- 
sition and also a delightful accomplishment, only when it is 
made to impart discipline and feminine grace to a truly Eng- 
lish character. The German, in many respects, is superior to 
the French, and in some institutions its value is beginning to 
be appreciated. 

The value of languages as instruments of culture, has 
not been properly estimated excepting in collegiate courses. 
They should receive more attention than is common in all 
our higher institutions. The time most favorable for the 
study of foreign languages is between the ages of ten and fif- 
teen. This includes a period, during which the capacity of 
the mind is not equal to the higher English branches, and 
when the primary studies are usually nearly completed. 

From the mathematical sciences I would select arithmetic, 
algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and mensuration, as most 
useful in a system of female education. Their design is chief- 
ly for discipline, and for preparing the mind for the higher 
branches of philosophy and astronomy. Their study imparts 
definition and sharpness to the intellectual faculty, and thus 
prepares the mind to think with clearness, and to express 
thought in concise and accurate language ; and not only this, 
but they give pertinacity and strength of grasp ; they are the 
vices and screws of the intellectual apparatus, enabling the 
intellect to hold the subjects of thought distinctly before it, 
until all their relations are accurately surveyed. They teach 
what demonstration is, and habituate the mind to processes 
of perfect reasoning, processes depending upon intuitive 
evidence, and not upon any observations or judgments, 
into which some degree of uncertainty must always enter. 
The conclusions, and each step in the progress of an alge- 
braic process or a geometrical demonstration, admit of no 
doubt or obscurity ; the argument is always all on one side, 
so that the mind can exercise neither its discretion, or its 
judgment, or its will, but is carried forward to the conclusion 
by its own fixed and imperative laws. 

Arithmetic and geometry I regard as of the highest value 
in the education of girls. And of arithmetics, Colburn's First 
Lessons ranks highest as an instrument of thought. It is 



19 

scarcely an exaggeration to affirm that this little book has 
produced already a revolution in the intellectual character of 
the age. I have little doubt but that the study of geometry 
has imparted to the female mind an intellectual vigor and 
power of reasoning which has more than doubled her influence 
in moulding the character of society. 

Other views I know are prevalent in respect to the value 
of the exact sciences in the education of young ladies. Some 
would dispense with the higher branches altogether, as unsuit- 
ed to the female mind, or as injurious to the character. Such 
a view I am persuaded never could have been derived from 
any careful induction of facts, but must -have- arisen either 
from .ignorance, or from that vulgar prejudice that mathemati- 
cal professors are very dry, uninteresting men, and therefore 
the study of these sciences must impart a cold, rigid stiffness 
to the character. This might be the effect if young ladies 
studied nothing else ; but there is at the present day but 
little danger of such a result. Instead of any incongruity 
between the female mind^and these sciences, their study is 
admirably fitted to supply what may be regarded as a defect. 
Women, it is said, never reason, but come to conclusions 
by instinctive intuitions. The study of the mathematics will 
supply this defect in logical power, and thus add greatly to 
the force of the female intellect. We would train our daugh- 
ters to come to just conclusions, but we should have greater 
confidence in their judgments, if, in addition to their superior 
natural endowments, they possessed the power of assigning 
reasons therefor. 

It is to be regretted, that any should embrace this preju- 
dice, in respect to the study of the higher mathematics, be- 
cause it is to be feared that some will seize upon it for the 
purpose of concealing their ignorance, and as an excuse for 
neglecting to acquire a solid and thorough education. These 
sciences arrest the progress of the superficial scholar and com- 
pel him to have definite views of subjects. They demand and 
secure thoroughness and completeness of knowledge. There 
is something very fascinating to a careless, indolent mind in 
having all subjects surrounded with a halo of glorious uncer- 
tainties, and something very forbidding in the stern, definite 



20 

demands of arithmetic and geometry. Such minds are 
willing to believe on mere authority that the sun is a very 
large body, and at a great distance from us, and that the stars 
are possibly suns ; but have no taste for the definite, certain 
and beautiful process by which the human mind ascends to 
knowledge so wonderful, and to thoughts so vast. 

That a low estimate is placed upon the exact sciences by 
some educators is shown by our own experience in this insti- 
tution. It is a frequent comjDlaint of parents when they 
present their daughters here, that they are deficient in mathe- 
matics ; and in some few cases, we have actually had young 
ladies of seventeen reciting in the same class in arithmetic 
with children scarcely twelve years of age. 

The next great use of the higher mathematics is, that this 
knowledge is essential to the successful study and comprehen- 
sion of natural philosophy and astronomy. God governs the 
universe by mathematical laws, and for the clear understand- 
ing of those laws, for the study of that great revelation of God 
in the natural world, we would teach our daughters the 
higher mathematics, as a most desirable, and indispensable 
preparation. 

There is one other important use of the exact sciences, 
which I am sure will commend their study to the approbation 
of mothers : their tendency to restrain the too great impulsive- 
ness of the character at the age of about sixteen, and to pre- 
vent the young girl from precipitating herself too rashly and 
blindly into the forming of unsuitable connections in life. 
This proclivity to form concrete equations at that period, will 
be satisfied in a measure, if the mind is employed in solving 
those of a more abstract character contained in algebra. And 
all will agree with me, that it is vastly safer for a young lady 
to be demonstrating the abstract proposition of the right- 
angled triangle by means of paper diagrams, that to be practi- 
cally measuring the hypothenuse thereof by means of a ladder 
from an upper window. 

We come now to consider another class of instruments 
in the culture of the mind, the natural sciences, which differ 
essentially from the two preceding in the kind of discipline 
which they impart. We are introduced here to the relations 



21 

of cause and effect. We have to examine the agencies and 
powers which God employs in the government of the mate- 
rial universe, to classify phenomena, and deduce laws. In 
the languages and the mathematics the relations of cause and 
effect are not possible, for the reason, that we are not then 
examining agencies, living forces, but intuitions, truths, the 
forms of things. There is evidently no cause for the equality 
between the square of the hypothenuse of a right-angled 
triangle and the sum of the squares of the other two sides; 
there are no forces which can produce such a truth, its existence 
is in the very nature of things. The natural sciences there- 
fore afford a kind of discipline peculiar to themselves. They 
address and exercise the faculties of comparison and causation. 
They give to the mind its philosophical character, as well as 
fit it for the right conduct of the affairs of life. They are 
necessary to teach the true methods of observation. The mathe- 
matics give us a true idea of demonstrative reasoning, the na- 
tural sciences of inductive and deductive processes. The former 
depend upon intuitive perceptions and definitions, the latter 
upon experiments, facts, observations, classifications, and gene- 
ralizations. Their value, in a course of study, therefore, cannot 
be compared, because their effects are essentially diverse. Of 
the three departments of natural science, chemistry, natural 
philosophy, and natural history, natural philosophy, includ- 
ing astronomy, is the most valuable, because it promotes habits 
of close observation, and furnishes the best examples of the 
inductive process, by which the laws of matter have been so 
successfully educed. Natural history including the various 
ologies differs in the kind of discipline from the other two, in 
the fact, that, with the exception of one or two branches, as 
geology, we have little to do with the relations of cause and 
effect. Natural history exercises the historical and descriptive 
faculty. 

The most valuable branches of natural history are physi- 
ology and geology, because the former makes us acquainted 
with our own organism, and the latter with that of the 
earth. Geology presents us with some of the most sublime 
views of the plans of God, it enlarges our ideas of time, as 
astronomy does of space. 



22 

The study of nature brings us into direct communion with 
the Infinite mind. It chastens the imagination, elevates and 
purifies the taste, and contributes eminently to simplicity and 
truthfulness of character. If you would turn away the young 
mind from the reading of fiction, and from revelling continu- 
ally in imaginary scenes, bring it into communion with real 
existences, the wonders of nature, more truly wonderful and 
fascinating than any which the imagination can picture. 

Aside from the enlargement of mind which the study of 
natural science secures, it opens up to the soul an almost infi- 
nite variety and richness of knowledge. It pours such health- 
ful, such stimulating and elevating influences into the character 
that it cannot be but of the highest value in a system of edu- 
cation. 

In the study of nature, we are separated from the depravi- 
ties, the passions and the caprices of human society. Nature 
is soothing in all her influences, well fitted, therefore, to 



Minister to a mind diseased. 



For he who 



" Communes with the forms 
Of nature, who with understanding heart, 
Doth know and love such objects as excite 
No morbid passions, no disquietude, 
No vengeance and no hatred, needs must feel 
The joy of that pure principle of love 
So deeply, that, unsatisfied with aught 
Less pure and exquisite, he cannot choose 
But seek for objects of a kindred love 
In fellow natures and a kindred joy." 

Nay, more than this, here in these outer works of God he 
may be lifted upward above and beyond them, where there 
shall steal into his soul 

" A sense sublime 
Of something far more deeply interfused." 
* * * * * 

"A motion and a spirit that impels 
All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 
And rolls through all things." 



23 

The metaphysical sciences, intellectual and moral philos- 
ophy, logic, rhetoric, &c, differ from the preceding, inasmuch 
as they relate mainly to the powers, capacities and duties of 
the soul itself. The phenomena they investigate are within 
the mind. They call into exercise the reflective faculties more 
directly than any other class of studies. They not only in- 
vestigate causes and effects, but reasons and their conclusions. 
Fully to master them requires more maturity of mind than for 
most of the others. They usually rank highest in value in 
systems of study, because they are essential to high mental 
discipline, and also because they, more than any other, directly 
influence the moral character. In this respect moral science 
is of the highest value, because it makes us acquainted with 
our relations to the moral universe. The discipline of the 
conscience is essential to the perfection of every other kiifd 
of discipline. Moral culture, I know, should begin with the 
first rudiments of knowledge, bui when moral laws are made 
a special study, the mind becomes distinctly conscious of pos- 
sessing this wonderful faculty of conscience, perceives its 
authority more clearly, and feels the obligations it suggests 
more deeply. When we have become fully conscious of the 
dignity of our moral nature, and begin to feel its impulsions 
to duty, we have attained to a high position in intellectual 
culture; we have solved the problem of life, for it is almost 
certain that our progress will be upward to the attainment of 
whatever can solidify the character, or adorn and beautify 
the soul. And this result will be better secured when we 
unite with the intellectual sciences evidences of natural and 
revealed religion, Butler's Analogy, and the higher branches 
of philosophy, literature and art. 

The design and value of accomplishments in a well-directed 
course of study can only be alluded to. The modern languages 
are often included among the accomplishments of an education, 
and, in one view, they are such, as they impart a certain finish 
and grace to the mind, and tend to refine the character; but 
to speak or to read well in any foreign language is also a solid 
acquisition. 

Dancing has also been so regarded, but this belongs to a 
different class of accomplishments, to physical education. 



24 

Dancing is an accomplishment in the same sense with any 
other gymnastic exercise. It does not pertain to the mind or 
character as such. We may speak of an accomplished dancer, 
and so we may of an accomplished boxer or wrestler or ma- 
gician, but I protest against classing those things which dis- 
play mere bodily agility, however desirable or important in 
their place, with the accomplishments of an education. The 
soul is spiritual and immortal, and is, therefore, infinitely 
superior to the body. Accomplishments contribute to its 
high and finished culture, to its adornment, and should not 
beassociated with those acquisitions which pertain to the body 
alone. I would call dancing a recreation. Accomplishments 
as we would use the term, are nearly synonymous with the fine 
arts, and, as school studies, embrace music and painting. The 
capacity for a successful study of art is supposed to be a special 
gift, and hence when the faculty is wanting other studies should 
mainly supply the . place. No doubt much time has been 
wasted upon music and painting, and yet whatever be the 
defect of capacity, some attention should be given to them, 
not for the sake of the acquisition itself, but for the influence 
of the culture which they promote. They address the imagi- 
nation, they help form a correct taste, and impart to the soul 
a peculiar quality, a quickened and refined sensibility to the 
beautiful and the pure. 

The study of art also disciplines the judgment, and adds 
gracefulness and finish to the whole character. It is the 
object of art to embody truth, to bring the mind into contact 
with the simple beauties of nature, and enable it to combine 
new forms, and create new beauties ; its study, therefore, con- 
tributes to graceful and full expression. It belongs to the 
graces, the poetries of life. Accomplishments are the holi- 
day attire of the soul, something of refinement added to the 
absolute necessities of being. Of themselves they are of little 
value, but when the study of nature, of languages, and math- 
ematics, and of natural and intellectual sciences are united to 
and crowned by the study of art, then it is that accomplish- 
ments refine, elevate and purify the soul, as nothing else 
can. When underlaid with solid knowledge, they are to the 
female character as perfume to flowers perennially blooming, 



25 

and shedding their delightful fragrance all along the pathway 
of life. 

When the love of study is established as an impulse in the 
soul; when to this is added a conscience sensitive to duty, a 
will obedient to law, a desire to benefit others with a thorough 
knowledge of science, literature and art, a high state of culture 
will be the necessary result, and in the end we shall have be- 
fore us a noble, accomplished woman, fitted to fill the exalted 
station which God has assigned her in human society. 

We have only time to notice a few of the obstacles which the 
•teacher must meet in attempting to secure this high state of 
culture. The task would be a difficult one were there no op- 
posing forces; but we have to deal with temperaments too 
indolent and temperaments too active, to contend with ca- 
prices, with habits of inattention, of self-indulgence, of super- 
ficial study ; habits of carelessness with respect to order and 
neatness, habits in fine, of disobedience to the law of con- 
science, resulting in deception, or want of integrity. Home in- 
fluences sometimes oppose an almost insuperable barrier to a 
high state of culture. The weakness, partiality, or capricious- 
ness of parental government, or defective family arrangements 
in respect to time, induce a want of promptness, and this leads 
to other and greater irregularities and deficiencies. The prac- 
tice of withdrawing the children for a portion of the year, dis- 
courages the teacher, diminishes his revenue, while it imposes 
the necessity of greater effort to supply the loss to the pupil. 

But the principal obstacles arise from the limited and erro- 
neous views of the nature and value of a good education, and 
of the time requisite to secure it. This is emphatically a ma- 
terial age, boast of it as we may. The almost miraculous power 
of steam, electricity and mechanism, annihilating time and space, 
and multiplying material products, has naturally given rise to 
the idea that the education of the mind may be accomplished 
by mechanical and labor-saving agencies. Every writer, every 
orator refers to the wonderful advances made in educational 
processes, and hence Institutions of learning are apt to be re- 
garded in the same light with steamboats, which have only to 
be furnished with proper material arrangements, and supplied 
with skilful captains, and young ladies can be put on board 



26 

and carried through in the shortest time ; or rather as factories, 
which, with well-arranged mechanism, will turn them out with 
the proper make and finish. The pupil has the idea that the 
mechanism is to do all the work ; she is simply to be the recipient 
of an external power, and her mind thoroughly furnished, after 
the most approved models, without any special effort of her 
own. All the thinking is to be clone by the teacher. . Those 
who have prepared the text-books have so simplified knowl- 
edge, have presented it in such small fragments, that little effort 
is required to understand all that is needed for a fashionable 
education. The learner obtains a few ideas which lie upon 
the outskirts of any branch of knowledge, but does not pene- 
trate to the centre, comprehend and master it, and yet believes 
because she has finished the book, she has exhausted the subject. 
While those branches of knowledge which cannot be thus de- 
graded, are too frequently regarded as unsuited to the female 
mind, or discarded as too dry, abstract, and impracticable for 
the present age. 

In accordance with this material and mechanical tendency, 
greater value is placed upon the body, its pleasure and adorn- 
ment, than upon the culture and well-being of the soul. That 
which is to perish is cherished with more solicitous care, has 
lavished upon it greater expense, is beheld with higher swell- 
ing pride than that which is spiritual and eternal, and upon 
whose right culture are suspended the hopes and destinies of 
immortality. What can be more incongruous than the sight 
of an ornately dressed young girl with a neglected, unfinished, 
uncultured mind? 

In consequence, too, of the disproportionate value placed 
upon wealth, social distinction, dress, external grace and orna- 
ment, there arises a strong desire among young ladies in cities to 
finish their school studies at too early an age, before even the 
mind has attained sufficient maturity to receive the benefit of 
any extensive and well-arranged system of study, and this de- 
sire is greatly fostered by the customs of society. If it be true 
that "there are no boys now-a-days," it is also true that there 
are few girls. The transition from the nursery to society is sud- 
den and without any intermediate stages and gradations. The 
little Miss, before she is in her teens, must be called a young 



27 

lady, and she must therefore have the prerogatives and privi- 
leges : she must make and receive calls, attend parties, see all 
the sights, hear all the celebrated singers and actors, assume 
the airs, and receive the attentions of a young lady. 

The introduction to society requires neither age nor ac- 
complishments ; and the result is, that in too many cases the 
susceptible mind of youth is deflected and drawn away by so 
many external influences, by parties, and balls, and beaux, that 
it is well nigh impossible to fix the attention long enough upon 
study to secure a large and generous culture. There is not ex- 
citement enough in study to satisfy the heated and jaded pow- 
ers. The sources of gratification are all exhausted and dried 
up, and the body as well as the mind made prematurely old, 
before the period arrives when they are capable of appreciating 
and enjoying the pleasures of society, or fitted to add to it the 
dignity and grace of fresh, well-developed, womanly charac- 
ters. It was a conceit of Carlyle, I believe, that " boys should 
be caged till they were twenty-one ; " we would be more leni- 
ent with the girls, and only require that they be housed until 
they are eighteen. 

I fancy that it is due to this material, money-getting ten- 
dency, that there results so low a standard of education in the 
community. It is difficult to raise the standard in the schools, 
for the spirit, the opinions, the general tone of society will be 
felt here, and, where examples of a liberal culture are few, 
the young mind is slow to gain an idea or an appreciation of 
any higher standard than commonly prevails. The educator, 
therefore, finds it an arduous labor to inspire his pupils with 
an ambition to rise above these influences, and to gain broader 
and higher views of the objects and ends of study, and he is 
tempted to give up the contest and yield to a pressure which 
he finds it impossible to sustain or resist. I know of nothing 
which would tend more directly to counteract these tendencies, 
and to elevate the standard of education in all our schools in 
this city so much, as a well endowed university, which should 
collect around it a society of literary and scientific men. From 
such a society there would be diffused the spirit of culture. 
We should be embosomed in an atmosphere which would act 
as a constant tonic, an exhilarating force, bearing us upward 



28 

and onward to a higher intellectual, social, and moral condi- 
tion, and aiding us to prepare and send forth from this and 
other institutions here, educated young ladies who would in- 
fuse the spirit of a liberal culture through the family circles, 
and the social gatherings, and who would become shining ex- 
amples of accomplished and cultivated women. 

But without this influence to aid us, it should be distinctly 
stated as a ground of high hope, that the standard of female 
education is much higher in our community than it was but a 
few years since* and we are encouraged to believe that the ob- 
ject of study will be better understood, the value of culture 
more highly appreciated, the means more efficient, and the 
obstacles less formidable, as we are brought more completely 
under the influence of the institutions of science and of religion 
which are already so firmly established in our beautiful city. 

I may be allowed in conclusion to congratulate the young 
ladies of this institution, for the commendable progress they 
have made the past year toward attaining that high culture 
which I have attempted to describe, and for resisting to so 
large an extent the obstacles to its successful completion. It 
is but just and proper for me to say to you, that in an experi- 
ence of more than twenty years in different institutions, I have 
never seen such perfect order, and such entire devotion to 
study, as I have witnessed here during the year which is now 
hastening to its close. I feel bound to say this in this public 
way, not to flatter you, but to express my own gratitude and 
that of my associates, that you have made our labors here so 
light and pleasant, and to encourage you in maintaining that 
high character which you have thus acquired. 

I trust you will bear in mind the great object of your 
school education, as you now lay aside the instruments of cul- 
ture, so far as they are contained in books, and go forth to 
enjoy a season of rest and recreation; and that you will look 
constantly into that other book written by the finger of God, 
and allow its great thoughts, its noble lessons, its high inspi- 
rations, to exert their moulding influence upon your hearts, 
so that we may meet you at the commencement of another 
year, invigorated in health, filled with stronger and firmer 



29 

resolutions to reach a higher standard of excellence, and im- 
bued with a deeper sense of your obligations to God. 

But there are some of your number who are to leave us 
not to return. In your behalf, and on the part of the teach- 
ers, and Board of Visitors, I must say to them a few parting 
words, and express to them our congratulations and our regrets. 

My beloved pupils, I have already detained you and our 
friends here too long, but I confess a reluctance to approach 
this hour, and to stand so near the line which must separate 
us from each other. Our congratulations, therefore, that you 
have so honorably completed the course of study here, are 
mingled with deep and sincere regrets. That to which you have 
looked forward with such ardent desire and joyous hope, must 
sever the tie which has so strongly bound us together, and yet, 
it is not quite severed ; the golden chain which unites the 
teacher and the pupil can never be parted. The bond is strong 
as affection, it is spiritual, and therefore immortal. 

The past has been to me the busiest, and one of the hap- 
piest years of my life. I attribute no small part of this hap- 
piness to the genial influences which you have thrown around 
me, as from day to day I have mingled with you, and as I 
have striven, with what ability God has given me, to imbue 
your minds with the love of study and the love of truth. I at- 
tribute a portion of this happiness also to the fact that the year 
has been full of pleasant work, and in taking leave of you 
to-night, I can urge upon your attention no higher duty than 
that of going forth into life with the full purpose of filling it 
with earnest, efficient labor, for I can point you to no high 
honor, or great influence, or pure happiness which can be se- 
cured without attempting some good and noble work. 

I will not flatter you, at this hour, by telling you that you 
have already attained that high state of culture to which it is 
your privilege and duty to aspire ; but I trust you have the 
true ideal of it. You have been made "acquainted with the 
elements of knowledge, with the proper incentives to study ; 
you have been taught something of the power of the various 
sciences ; lay them not aside, as you leave these halls ; you 
have but begun to know their use and to feel- their influence. 
Let them still be your daily companions. 



30 

It is true, you have attained a distinction far above most 
of your sex. Few are privileged to pass through a course of 
study as extended as yours has been ; few have the means of 
so much influence for good as you will possess. We part 
with you, therefore, with high hopes that you will diffuse 
around you, in the spheres you may be called to fill in life, 
the spirit of a liberal and Christian culture. As you go forth 
to fulfil the mission God has assigned you, remember that 
there are but two objects worth living for here ; the one is to 
cultivate your spiritual natures, and the other to apply all 
your knowledge and all your culture to the temporal comfort 
and spiritual improvement of those who may come under your 
influence. 

We earnestly desire your happiness, but we are not alone 
in this, you are, and will be connected by many social and 
natural affinities with others who will sorrow or rejoice with 
you, and whose welfare will be bound up with your own. 
But if you make happiness the object of }^our efforts in 
life, she will surely elude your search. Happiness comes un- 
solicited, unsought, to those only who in the fear and love of 
God strive to benefit and impart happiness to others. Let all 
your aims have a benevolent intention, remembering that you 
were not sent here to be happy merely, but to be useful. So- 
ciety needs elevated, benevolent Christian women. It has a 
work for you to perform; embrace the opportunity joyfully, 
and by the blessing of God you shall be happy in the present 
life, and in coming times your names shall be associated with 
that great company of noble women who, ascending to their 
reward, have ceased from their labors while their works have 
followed them. 

Before taking leave of you, it becomes my pleasing duty 
to present you with the testimonials to your scientific and 
literary attainments, the customary honors of this institution, 
and conferred only upon those who have honorably sustained 
their examination in the prescribed course of study. 

With these we offer you our hearty congratulations, we 
welcome you to a participation in the honors, the privileges, 
the sympathies of educated, cultured minds. 

As you separate from us, and from each other ; as these 



8 1 

scenes, now so joyous and full of hope, recede from your 
view, we trust they will serve to recall early friendships, to 
awaken pleasant memories, that will gladden life's sadder 
hours, and cast a serener joy over its brighter days. We 
hope you will make them as monitors and incentives to a 
higher spiritual life. 

But we must bid you farewell, for we know that there are 
many hearts pulsating towards you, and many hands beckon- 
ing you away, to the broad prairies of the West, to the edges 
of the lakes, to the rocky shores of the East, and to consecrated 
hearths in our own midst. Whatever hearts you may gladden, 
whatever homes you may bless, we trust you will not forget, 
that learning, and honors, and friendships, should all be made 
subservient to the interests of that immortal future, for whose 
inconceivable joys the education and discipline of the present 
life are but a necessary and fit preparation. Go, each to your 
appointed work, and patiently wait for that blessed reunion, 
where those who have striven here to do the will of God, may 
recount their triumphs ; where teachers and pupils may study 
together the sublime science of heaven, and be separated no 
more. 



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